Language:
English
Year of publication:
2000
Titel der Quelle:
History and Memory; Studies in Representation of the Past
Angaben zur Quelle:
12,2 (2000) 56-91
Keywords:
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), in literature
;
American literature History and criticism
;
Jewish literature History and criticism
Abstract:
The Holocaust has produced an excess of collective memory; this memory is not fading, and it is obvious that the Holocaust has a future in American culture. Focuses on second-generation Holocaust literature in the USA. Writers born in the USA, be they children of Holocaust survivors or not, cannot be witnesses of World War II events or of Jewish life in prewar Europe; thus, the memory which they hand down to the next generation is in fact an imagined memory, a postmemory. Reflects on the functions of such a postmemory, its primary function being the quest for a Jewish identity; on the writers' artistic methods to "invent" memory or to rescue the memory of parents; and on the merits and pitfalls of this literature.
URL:
Click here for fulltext (may be restricted to subscribers)
URL:
Locate this publication in Israeli libraries
Permalink